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Wednesday, July 2, 2014

My Mardaani Grandma

Since I know Rani, I see her in
every woman; seriously, I told this in my engineering campus interview to Ms.
Kasturi Banerji (HR manager, Thermax Ltd) and got selected in company. I see
every woman in more respectful way after I know Rani. As I grown up, I got to
know some fascinating facts of my grandma (In Marathi, we call her Aaji). Yes, she is truly mardaani for
me. I don’t remember any specific incidence of her bravery but her life has
been a courageous journey. For others, she is just another Indian woman, for me
she is truly Mardaani.

My grandma, Padmavati Vasudev Joshi was born on 22nd May,
1934 in Malvan, a beautiful town in Kokan Maharashtra. She was lucky to have
higher education at that time as she belongs to Brahmin family. In 1961, she completed her nursing course in
Bombay Provincial Nursing Association, Mumbai (now renamed as Maharashtra Nursing
Council) and got married to my grandpa who is doctor by profession, he joined Sangli
Civil Hospital and so she shifted to Sangli thereon. Until now, everything was
okay, but real struggle started after marriage. They were living in extended
area of Sangli, Yashwantnagar where housing societies were newly formed. My
grandpa is very strict in behavior. He needs everything at place and in time.
She managed to not only serve them well but also educated her two daughters
(out of them one is my mom). That time, my mom used to go to City High School
which was far from home. A bus will arrive only twice in a day. If a return bus
is missed, mom used to live at friends house in the Sangli. As far as I know my
grandpa, it would have been very tough for aaji
to manage those days to make 2 daughters ready for school as not many children
were going to school.

Apart from all this, she helped
grandpa to run clinic in the home. She was the first lady doctor in my town
(Proud of her). Many women got facilitated by her presence in clinic.

In addition to this, she was
elected as Grampanchayat sadasya that time. It was heroic for me to know that we
have political leader in our family. She helped to start Masjid behind our
colony, helped her friend Mrs. Kulkarni madam (who used to be headmistress of
my school) to start a school in Yashwantnagar where I completed my secondary
studies. This was all because she wanted to have an educational institute in
the town. She knew the difficulties in sending children to city for education.

This is the story of my aaji. Though, it looks like ordinary
journey, the circumstances under which she did all these things is not less
than bravery. Thanks Mardaani for giving me chance to unveil my Aaji’s life
with all. Just before writing this post, I called her for details and told her
about this. She felt delighted.